K-12 Alliance Members

Cybersecurity Competition Federation

The Cybersecurity Competition Federation, also known as the Federation or CyberFed (NSF Award DUE- 134536), is an association of academic, industry and government organizations with a common interest in supporting cybersecurity competitions and the competitors they serve. Federation members share the common goal of increasing awareness, endorsing ethical standards, building a common understanding of diverse competition tasks, helping those who oversee activities and competitions, and ensuring a developmental pathway of cybersecurity-based activities that support the growth of cybersecurity skill. With a focus on communication and promotion the Federation supports an engaged and thriving ecosystem of cybersecurity competitions and related activities which in turn will rapidly prepare people with widely needed cybersecurity knowledge and skills.

Daniel Manson

Dot Diva

The Dot Diva / New Image for Computing (NIC) initiative is sponsored by WGBH. Dot Diva's mission is to create an exciting and positive image of computing for high school girls. Their nationwide survey revealed that not only do the majority of girls think of computing as "boring" and "hard," but they believe it fails to deliver two crucial benefits: "working with others" and "making a difference in other people's lives." Their ultimate goal is to transform this negative perception.

ETR

Education, Training, Research (ETR) is a non-profit organization in California with a multidisciplinary staff of educators, trainers, program developers, publication and distribution experts, and social scientists. Our primary focus areas are Diversity in IT and Sexual and Reproductive Health. We generate original research and do research syntheses and translations to inform efforts to increase diversity and learning in K-12, higher education, and the tech workforce. We also build research and evaluation partnerships with schools, community-based programs, colleges, and tech companies to build their capacity to recruit and retain underrepresented populations, and to increase their impact.

Jill Denner

Expanding Computing Education Pathways

The Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance builds on five years of work by the Commonwealth Alliance for IT Education (CAITE) and Georgia Computes! and on best practices in computing education, particularly those developed in the community of Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliances. ECEP is an alliance of 12 US states and territories. The goal of ECEP is to have a significant impact on improving and broadening participation in K -12 computing education state by state. Increasing the number of computing and computing-intensive degree graduates, and the diversity of those graduates, requires systemic change to educational pathways. Underrepresented minority students may not gain access to quality computing education unless it is made available broadly in high schools.

For computing to be taken seriously in middle, high school and community and 4-year colleges requires that we define high school computing curricula, increase the number of well-trained, certified high school computing teachers, improve post-secondary degree programs, curricular alignment, advising, and retention, and generally promote K-20 computing education reform. ECEP state partners and regions should see significant improvements in their computing education, through public policy, outreach, or changes in the education system.

Sarah T. Dunton

Exploring Computer Science, UCLA & University of Oregon

Exploring Computer Science (ECS) is a comprehensive, year-long introductory high school course created in 2008 to increase opportunities for girls and students of color to learn computer science. Developed with NSF support from the “Broadening Participation in Computing” program, the ECS program provides schools with an inquiry-based, culturally-responsive curriculum and an accompanying teacher professional development program. ECS has grown into a nationwide program and is currently offered across multiple states and in the largest school districts in the nation. This course was developed in response to scholarship outlined in Stuck in the Shallow End, and ECS classrooms serve as an important site for ECS researchers to investigate the educational ecosystem necessary for supporting learners in computer science classrooms, especially in underserved schools and communities.

Family Code Night

Our mission is to help accelerate computer science learning at any elementary school. It starts with Family Code Night, a delightful event that any school can put on using our free Event Kit. This whole-school family program ignites coding and computer science learning at any elementary school, and in any family. The event uniquely engages children K-5 and their parents or guardians in the eye-opening experience of doing their first hour of computer programming, together, then gives all participants ideas and links for continued CS learning and fun. We invite any school, parent, principal or educator to download our Event Kit and put on this program for their school.

John Pearce

FIRST

FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1989 by inventor/entrepreneur Dean Kamen to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. Student participants, in K-12, master skills and concepts to aid in learning science and technology through innovative projects and robotics competitions, while gaining valuable employment and life skills.

Kerri maxwell

Games for Learning Institute (G4LI)

The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) seeks to answer critical questions, pointing the way to a new era of game use in education. The Institute was established in 2008 with a prestigious grant from Microsoft Research, and supplemental funding from the Motorola Foundation. Based at New York University, the Institute brings together 14 game designers, computer scientists, and education researchers from 9 partner institutions. G4LI applies a scientifically rigorous approach that uses both quantitative and qualitative methods. Researchers study existing games, identify key design elements and learning patterns, develop prototype "mini games" based on these elements and patterns, test them in classroom and informal learning settings, and evaluate the results. G4LI's initial focus is on digital games as tools for teaching science, technology, engineering, and math - STEM subjects - at the critical middle-school level.

Susan Stratton

Geek Squad Academy

Geek Squad Academy is a program designed to inspire a younger generation to get involved firsthand with technology. Housed within Best Buy's Community Relations group, Geek Squad Academy works with local organizations to bring this one of a kind technology based experience to your community. This is accomplished through fun, interactive classes and activities that provide students an opportunity to get hands on experience with a wide variety of technology.